Nicholas Edward Cave"AO (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional film actor, best known as the frontman of the rock band "Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Cave's music is generally characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences, and lyrical obsessions with death, religion, love and violence.[3]

Born and raised in rural "Victoria, Cave studied art before turning to music in the 1970s. As frontman of the Boys Next Door (later renamed "the Birthday Party), he became a central figure in "Melbourne's burgeoning "post-punk scene. The band relocated to "London in 1980, but, disillusioned by life there, evolved towards a darker, more challenging sound, and acquired a reputation as "the most violent live band in the world".[4] The Birthday Party is regarded as a major influence on "gothic rock, and Cave, with his shock of black hair and pale, emaciated look, was described in the media as a "poster boy for the genre.

Cave was born on 22 September 1957 in "Warracknabeal, a small country town in the state of "Victoria, Australia, to Dawn Cave (née Treadwell) and Colin Frank Cave.[6][7] As a child, he lived in Warracknabeal and then "Wangaratta in rural Victoria. His father taught English and mathematics at the local technical school; his mother was a librarian at the high school that Nick attended.[8] Cave's father introduced him to literary classics from an early age, such as "Crime and Punishment and "Lolita,[9] and also organised the first "symposium on the Australian "bushranger and outlaw "Ned Kelly,[10] with whom Nick was enamoured as a child.[11]

When Cave was 9 he joined the choir of Wangaratta’s Holy Trinity Cathedral.[6] At 13 he was expelled from Wangaratta High School.[9] In 1970, having moved with his family to the "Melbourne suburb of "Murrumbeena, he became a boarder and later day student at "Caulfield Grammar School.[8] He was 19 when his father was killed in a car accident; his mother told him of his father's death while she was bailing him out of a "St Kilda police station where he was being held on a charge of burglary. He would later recall that his father "died at a point in my life when I was most confused" and that "the loss of my father created in my life a vacuum, a space in which my words began to float and collect and find their purpose".[9]

Cave attended his first music concert at Melbourne's "Festival Hall. The bill consisted of "Manfred Mann, "Deep Purple and "Free. Cave recalled: "I remember sitting there and feeling physically the sound going through me."[12]

In 1973, Cave met "Mick Harvey (guitar), "Phill Calvert (drums), John Cochivera (guitar), Brett Purcell (bass), and Chris Coyne (saxophone); fellow students at Caulfield Grammar. They founded a band with Cave as singer. Their repertoire consisted of proto-punk "cover versions of songs by "Lou Reed, "David Bowie, "Alice Cooper, "Roxy Music and "Alex Harvey, among others. Later, the line-up slimmed down to four members including Cave's friend "Tracy Pew on bass. In 1977, after leaving school, they adopted the name The Boys Next Door and began playing predominantly original material. Guitarist and songwriter "Rowland S. Howard joined the band in 1978.

They were a leader of Melbourne's post-punk scene in the late 1970s, playing hundreds of live shows in Australia before changing their name to the Birthday Party in 1980 and moving to London, then "West Berlin. Cave's Australian girlfriend and muse "Anita Lane accompanied them to London. The band were notorious for their provocative live performances which featured Cave shrieking, bellowing and throwing himself about the stage, backed up by harsh pounding rock music laced with guitar "feedback. Cave utilised "Old Testament imagery with lyrics about sin, debauchery and damnation.[1] Cave's droll sense of humour and penchant for parody is evident in many of the band's songs, including "Nick the Stripper" and ""King Ink". ""Release the Bats", one of the band's most famous songs, was intended as an over-the-top ""piss-take" on "gothic rock, and a "direct attack" on the "stock gothic associations that less informed critics were wont to make". Ironically, it became highly influential on the genre, giving rise to a new generation of bands.[14]

After establishing a cult following in Europe and Australia, the Birthday Party disbanded in 1984. Howard and Cave found it difficult to continue working together and both were rather worn down from alcohol and drug use.

The band with Cave as their leader and frontman has released sixteen studio albums. "Pitchfork Media calls the group one of rock's "most enduring, redoubtable" bands, with an accomplished discography.[15] Though their sound tends to change considerably from one album to another, the one constant of the band is an unpolished blending of disparate genres, and song structures which provide a vehicle for Cave's virtuosic, frequently histrionic theatrics. Critics Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Steve Huey wrote: "With the Bad Seeds, Cave continued to explore his obsessions with religion, death, love, America, and violence with a bizarre, sometimes self-consciously eclectic hybrid of blues, gospel, rock, and arty post-punk."[3]

In mid-August 2013, Cave was a 'First Longlist' finalist for the 9th Coopers AMP, alongside artists such as "Kevin Mitchell and "the Drones. The Australian music prize is worth "A$30,000.[18] The prize ultimately went to Big Scary.[19]

In September 2013 interview, Cave explained that he returned to using a typewriter for songwriting after his experience with the Nocturama album, as he "could walk in on a bad day and hit 'delete' and that was the end of it". Cave believes that he lost valuable work due to a "bad day".[12]

In addition to his performances with "Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Cave has, since the 1990s, performed live 'solo' tours with himself on piano/vocals, "Warren Ellis on violin/accordion and various others on bass and drums.

The alternative rock outfit was formed as "a way to escape the weight of The Bad Seeds."[20] The band's name was inspired by a "Memphis Slim song, "Grinder Man Blues," which Cave is noted to have started singing during one of the band's early rehearsal sessions. The band's eponymous debut studio album, "Grinderman, was released in 2007 to extremely positive reviews and the band's second and final studio album, "Grinderman 2, was released in 2010 to a similar reception.

Cave's work was featured in a scene in the 1986 film, "Dogs in Space by Richard Lowenstein.[22] Cave performed parts of the Boys Next Door song ""Shivers" twice during the film, once on video and once live.

MacGowan also sings a version of "Lucy", released on B-Sides and Rarities. On 3 May 2008, during the Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! tour, MacGowan joined Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on stage to perform "Lucy" at Dublin Castle in Ireland. "Pulp's single ""Bad Cover Version" includes on its B-side a cover version by Cave of that band's song ""Disco 2000". On the Deluxe Edition of Pulp's "Different Class another take of this cover can be found.

In 2000, one of Cave's heroes, "Johnny Cash, covered Cave's "The Mercy Seat" on the album American III: Solitary Man, seemingly repaying Cave for the compliment he paid by covering Cash's "The Singer" (originally "The Folk Singer") on his Kicking Against the Pricks album. Cave was then invited to be one of many rock and "country artists to contribute to the liner notes of the retrospective "The Essential Johnny Cash CD, released to coincide with Cash's 70th birthday. Subsequently, Cave recorded a duet with Cash on a version of "Hank Williams' ""I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" for Cash's "American IV: The Man Comes Around album (2002). A similar duet, the American folk song "Cindy", was released posthumously on the "Johnny Cash: Unearthed" boxset. Cave's song "Let the Bells Ring" is a posthumous tribute to Cash. Cave has also covered the song "Wanted Man" which is best known as performed by Johnny Cash but is a Bob Dylan composition.

In 2004, Cave gave a hand to "Marianne Faithfull on the album, Before the Poison. He co-wrote and produced three songs ("Crazy Love", "There is a Ghost" and "Desperanto"), and the Bad Seeds are featured on all of them. He is also featured on "The Crane Wife" (originally by "the Decemberists), on Faithfull's 2008 album, "Easy Come, Easy Go.

Cave also took part in the "X-Files" compilation CD with some other artists, where he reads parts from the Bible combined with own texts, like "Time Jesum ...", he outed himself as a fan of the series some years ago, but since he does not watch much TV, it was one of the only things he watched. He collaborated on the 2003 single "Bring It On", with "Chris Bailey, formerly of the Australian punk group, The Saints. Cave contributed vocals to the song "Sweet Rosyanne", on the 2006 album Catch That Train! from Dan Zanes & Friends, a children's music group.

In early 2011, Cave and Ellis composed the music for the Mexican film Dias de Gracias.[38] Later in 2011, they reunited with Hillcoat to score his latest picture, "Lawless. Cave also authored this screenplay based on the novel by Matt Bondurant. Set in Depression-era "Franklin County, Virginia, the film was released in August 2012 (US) and September 2012 (UK).[39]

Cave and Ellis also have documentary-score composition experience. In 2007, the pair composed the score for Geoffrey Smith's film, "The English Surgeon, which traces Dr. "Henry Marsh's struggle to bring modern neurosurgery to the confusion of post-Soviet Ukraine. They also wrote the score for The Girls of Phnom Penh, Matthew Watson's 2009 film exploring Cambodia's "virginity trade".[40]

Cave's novel "The Death of Bunny Munro, published in 2009, was released as an audiobook and Cave worked with Ellis, Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard on the soundtrack. Forsyth and Pollard referred to the soundtrack as a 3D experience and stated: "We've not heard anything like this before – the result sits somewhere between a film soundtrack, a radio play and an hallucination."[41]

Cave released his first book, King Ink, in 1988. It is a collection of lyrics and plays, including collaborations with "Lydia Lunch. In 1997, he followed up with King Ink II, containing lyrics, poems, and the transcript of a radio essay he did for the "BBC in July 1996, "The Flesh Made Word," discussing in biographical format his relationship with Christianity.

While he was based in "West Berlin, Cave started working on what was to become his debut novel, "And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989). Significant crossover is evident between the "themes in the book and the lyrics Cave wrote in the late stages of the Birthday Party and the early stage of his solo career. "Swampland", from Mutiny, in particular, uses the same linguistic stylings ('mah' for 'my', for instance) and some of the same themes (the narrator being haunted by the memory of a girl called Lucy, being hunted like an animal, approaching death and execution). On 21 January 2008, a special edition of Cave's novel And the Ass Saw the Angel was released.[43] Cave's second novel "The Death of Bunny Munro was published on 8 September 2009 by Harper Collins books.[44][45] Telling the story of a sex-addicted salesman, it was also released as a "binaural audio-book produced by British Artists "Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard and an iPhone app.[46] The book originally started as a screenplay Cave was going to write for "John Hillcoat.[47]

Aside from movie soundtracks, Cave also wrote the screenplays for Hillcoat's The Proposition in 2005, and Lawless (based on the novel by Matt Bondurant) in 2011.

As proof of his interest in scripture, so evident in his lyrics and his prose writing, Cave wrote the foreword to a "Canongate publication of the "Gospel according to Mark, published in the UK in 1998. The American edition of the same book (published by "Grove Press) contains a foreword by the noted American writer "Barry Hannah.

Cave is a contributor to a 2009 rock biography of "the Triffids, Vagabond Holes: David McComb and the Triffids, edited by Australian academics "Niall Lucy and Chris Coughran.[48]

Cave wrote the screenplay for "The Proposition, a film about "bushrangers in the Australian "outback during the late 19th century. Directed by John Hillcoat and filmed in "Queensland in 2004, it premiered in October 2005 and was later released worldwide to critical acclaim.[52] Cave explained his personal background in relation to writing the film's screenplay in a 2013 interview:

I had written long-form before but it is pure story-telling in script writing and that goes back as far as I can remember for me, not just with my father but with myself. I slept in the same bedroom as my sister for many years, until it became indecent to do so and I would tell her stories every night—that is how she would get to sleep. She would say "tell me a story" so I would tell her a story. So that ability, I very much had that from the start and I used to enjoy that at school so actually to write a script—it suddenly felt like I was just making up a big story.[12]

The film critic for British newspaper "The Independent called The Proposition "peerless," "a star-studded and uncompromisingly violent outlaw film."[53] The generally "ambient soundtrack was recorded by Cave and Warren Ellis.

In 2006 it was revealed that, at the request of his friend "Russell Crowe, Cave wrote a script for a proposed sequel to "Gladiator which was rejected by the studio.[54]

Cave wrote a screenplay titled The Wettest County in the World,[56] which was used for the 2012 film "Lawless, directed again by John Hillcoat, starring "Tom Hardy and "Shia LaBeouf. The film opened in theaters on 29 August 2012.[57]

Cave then moved to "São Paulo, Brazil in 1990, where he met and married his first wife, Brazilian journalist Viviane Carneiro. She gave birth to their son Luke in 1991. Luke shares a flat with sports journalist Amitai Winehouse. Nick and Viviane were married for 6 years and divorced in 1996. [61]

Cave's second son, Jethro, was also born in 1991 and grew up with his mother, Beau Lazenby, in Melbourne, Australia. Cave and Jethro did not meet one another until Jethro was about seven or eight.[62][63]

In 1997, Cave met British model Susie Bick. Bick was the cover model on the "Damned's 1985 album "Phantasmagoria and a "Vivienne Westwood model. Bick is also the model on the cover of the album "Push the Sky Away.[64] She gave up her job when they married in 1999. Bick's and Cave's twin sons, Arthur and Earl, were born in "Brighton in 2000.[65][66] Arthur died in 2015, after falling from a cliff.[67]

Cave is the godfather of "Michael Hutchence's daughter Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily.[68] Cave performed "Into My Arms" at the televised funeral of "Michael Hutchence, but insisted that the cameras cease rolling during his performance.

Cave has had four sons.[69][70] by three different partners: Luke, born in 1991, Jethro, also born in 1991, and twins Arthur and Earl, born in 2000.

Cave's son Arthur, 15, fell from a cliff at "Ovingdean, near "Brighton, England, and died from his injuries on 14 July 2015. Cave's family released a statement on the death, saying, "Our son Arthur died on Tuesday evening. He was our beautiful, happy loving boy. We ask that we be given the privacy our family needs to grieve at this difficult time."[67][71][72] The effect of Arthur's death on Cave and his family was explored in the 2016 documentary film "One More Time with Feeling and on the 2016 album "Skeleton Tree.

In the past, Cave identified as a Christian. In his recorded lectures on music and songwriting, he has claimed that any true love song is a song for God and has ascribed the mellowing of his music to a shift in focus from the Old to the New Testaments. He does not belong to a particular denomination and has distanced himself from "religion as being an American thing, in which the name of God has been hijacked".[73] He said in a "Los Angeles Times article: "I'm not religious, and I'm not a Christian, but I do reserve the right to believe in the possibility of a god. It's kind of defending the indefensible, though; I'm critical of what religions are becoming, the more destructive they're becoming. But I think as an artist, particularly, it's a necessary part of what I do, that there is some divine element going on within my songs."[74] When asked in 2009 about whether he believed in a personal God, Cave's reply was: "No".[75] When interviewed by Jarvis Cocker on 12 September 2010, for his BBC Radio 6 show "Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Service", Cave stated: "I believe in God in spite of religion, not because of it."[76]

In 2009, Cave joked about plans to erect a gold statue of himself in his hometown of Warracknabeal, based on a foot-high scale model which, according to Cave, features him "naked on a rearing horse. I have a modest loincloth on. It's this rather wonderful homoerotic work of art."[77] "Yarriambiack Council acknowledged the humour and tourist appeal behind Cave's proposal, daring him to "build a 50m-high Nick Cave with a viewing platform."[78] A film about Cave's life, titled "20,000 Days on Earth and directed by artists "Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, was released in mid-2014, shortly before his 57th birthday.[79]

2017 "Order of Australia: Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) "For distinguished service to the performing arts as a musician, songwriter, author and actor, nationally and internationally, and as a major contributor to Australian music culture and heritage."[96]

^Lewis, Luke (5 March 2009). "Release The Bats - It's The 20 Greatest Goth Tracks". 7. The Birthday Party – Release The Bats. Knuckle-dragging drums. Sickening, scything distortion. Barely comprehensible vocals in the Vic Reeves 'club style': here was a compelling sonic template for goth's lunatic fringe. Most gothic moment: Nick Cave's blood-curdling shriek: "Whooaaargh! BITE!" It was a story about vampire sex was promoted by an advert with the words "Dirtiness is next to antigodliness".